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The furthest (paced) hour record ever achieved on a penny-farthing bicycle was 22.09 miles (35.55 km) by William A. Rowe, an American, in 1886. [39] The record for riding from Land's End to John o' Groats on a penny-farthing was set in 1886 by George Pilkington Mills with a time of five days, one hour, and 45 minutes. This record was broken in ...
It fell out of favor after the summer of 1869 and was replaced in 1870 with the type of bicycle called "ordinary", "high-wheel", or "penny-farthing". Few original boneshakers exist today, most having been melted for scrap metal during World War I. [ 3 ] Those that do surface from time to time command high prices, typically up to about $5,000 US.
Eugène Meyer was a French mechanic credited with making important contributions to the development of the bicycle. He received a French patent for wire wheels in 1868 and is now believed to be the person primarily responsible for making the penny-farthing feasible and widely known. [1]
Meyer invented the wire-spoke tension wheel in 1869 and produced a classic high bicycle design until the 1880s. A penny-farthing or ordinary bicycle photographed in the Škoda museum in the Czech Republic. James Starley in Coventry added the tangent spokes and the mounting step to his famous bicycle named "Ariel". He is regarded as the father ...
James Starley (21 April 1830 – 17 June 1881) [1] was an English inventor and father of the bicycle industry. He was one of the most innovative and successful builders of bicycles and tricycles. His inventions include the differential gear, the perfection of the bicycle chain drive, and the penny-farthing.
Thomas Stevens (24 December 1854 [1] [2] – 24 January 1935) was the first person to circle the globe by bicycle. He rode a large-wheeled Ordinary, also known as a penny-farthing, from April 1884 to December 1886. [3]
An 1880 penny-farthing (left), and a 1886 Rover safety bicycle (right). The first bicycle to be called a "safety" was designed by the English engineer Harry John Lawson (Henry Lawson) in 1876, [6] although other bicycles which fit the description had been developed earlier, such as by Thomas Humber in 1868. [7]
The first universally accepted record was in 1876 when the American Frank Dodds rode 26.508 km (16.471 mi) on a penny-farthing. [1] The first recorded distance [ 2 ] was set in 1873 by James Moore in Wolverhampton, riding an Ariel 49" high wheel (1.2 m) bicycle; however, the distance was recorded at exactly 14.5 miles (23.3 km), leading to the ...